Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday that he will ask developed countries to take environmental measures and cut the emissions of carbon gases.

"Brazil has the political and moral authority to demand that rich countries uphold their obligation to reduce world pollution, instead of creating protocols they don't sign," Lula said in his regular address on state radio.

The United States is the biggest producer of carbon gases in the world, and 70 percent of the global carbon gases were emitted by developed countries. But the U.S. refused to sign the Kyoto protocol to cut global emissions in 2001, saying it unfairly exempts developing countries from targets.

Lula also referred to a study carried out by the Brazilian Enterprise of Agropecuary Research (Embrapa), which analyzed deforestation around the world. According to Embrapa, Europe now has only 0.3 percent of the forests that existed in that continent 8,000 years ago. North America has kept 32 percent of forests from that time, and Brazil has 69 percent of its forests.

Lula will discuss global environmental issues with George W. Bush when the U.S. president visits Latin America next month.

Source: Xinhua